Letters to the editor: Family ties

The other day at our community pool a black male teen was blasting his boom box. He was there with his younger teenage brother, two younger sisters of between 5 and 7 years old, and their mother. The lyrics to the rap song they were listening to described whites and police in a derogatory, hostile and profane-laced manner. Women also were described as sexually promiscuous and as nothing more than objects for sex. And again, the lyrics were profane and repulsive. The N-word was used as frequently as the rest of the profanity.

The really upsetting and unsettling thing was that the whole family would loudly sing along with all of the most profane lyrics, including the N-word. Maybe one of the reasons why people use the N-word is because of this sort of behavior.

John Swift

Ruskin

Separate ballots

Thank you for printing Richard Kelly's column regarding the Reagan Revolution ("Rachel Abrams and the need to confront amnesia," Other Views, June 26).

My first thought was, where were the Reagan Revolution voters and volunteers last year? However, as a poll watcher, I saw voter fraud so I know they were beaten by a system that is stacked against the honest voting process. In certain precincts, one can walk in and vote without the proper ID and have your vote run through the machine as a regular ballot. The provisional ballots look like regular ballots, and busy poll workers do not have the time to hover over provisional voters.

The ballots should be different if there is no ID. This occurred across the state, and few people care.

Cathy Starnes

Plant City

Progressive playbook

To anyone tuned into the political landscape, the Obama administration scandals should come as no surprise. Why? It is because progressives believe they know best for everyone, even if everyone doesn't want what they want, i.e., wealth transfers, a dominant public sector, etc. In their mindset, their goals are so noble, anything goes in pursuit of their utopia, and any means justifies the end.

The president doesn't have to give a direct order, thus maintaining plausible deniability, but his minions know it's OK to bend and break the law to achieve a greater good because the leader sets the tone.

Benghazi: Lives can be sacrificed to perpetuate a narrative of success against radical Islam, which might impede the election of President Obama if the truth were known.

IRS: A federal agency can be used to throttle political opposition by denying constitutional rights.

AP: Even our "free press" can be spied upon to prevent any negative publicity. Even a beat reporter, James Rosen of Fox News, can be singled out and legally harassed for doing his job of investigative reporting.

Fast and Furious: An idiotic scheme to give guns to dope criminals results in the death of an American border agent, and there was nothing but lies and stone-walling.

Of course, the administration can't look complicit because it is on a too-important mission to be side-tracked by any opposition, or just the truth.

It's all in the playbook.

James W. Hays

Plant City

Advocacy

If the California investors who bought the Tribune had the objective of turning the Tribune into a superficially more newspaper-like version of the rabidly partisan and non-journalistic broadsheet based in St. Petersburg, Thursday's edition would constitute solid evidence that they have achieved their objective. The screaming page 1 headline, "Justices rule all marriages equal" is not only factually wrong but reflects a complete misunderstanding by the newspaper of the issues that were before the Supreme Court. The headline is so factually wrong that it must reflect the newspaper's "rooting" interest as to the outcome.

Similarly, your editorial proclaiming that the Supreme Court "redefined" marriage reflects the inability of anyone on the newspaper's editorial board to read judicial opinions with any degree of understanding. The Tampa Bay region does not need or deserve another newspaper that cannot separate advocacy from journalism.

Jeffrey P. Meyer

TampaNothing's free

I was reading the recent article in the Trib about the days off without pay for civilians at MacDill Air Force Base. I wonder if they will hold the proper people accountable. The First Family went on an $80 million to $100 million (cost to taxpayers) trip to Africa. We can't afford to pay for tours of the White House. Food stamp use has doubled, and "free stuff" abounds, though somebody is paying for it.

I was watching TV the other day, and I counted 12 commercials from three companies offering "free" phones. This program, which started out as a good thing but has turned into a boondoggle, went from $2 million a year in 2008 to $2 billion this year. I don't hear any politician working to fix this problem. I also have not heard any results of the new law to stop the billions of dollars in income tax return fraud in the Tampa area.

I could go on. When your paycheck is smaller due to some of these things, just remember we Americans deserve what we get when we vote.

After a long run in the Tampa Tribune sports department, Joe Henderson now shares his thoughts on the people and places that make up daily life in our city.

Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson’s baseball card — if he had one — would report he throws left, writes right. In his columns and blog, “The Right Stuff,” southpaw Jackson provides insight into the evolving human condition from a distinctly conservative point of view.Column | Blog